Immediately Useful Formative Assessment Freebie: Gift to You

Free Exit Tickets for Formative Assessment

As we approach the new school year, many of us think about what goals we want to set for the upcoming school year, or what we want to change in our classroom.   For many of us, we want to get a handle on what our students really understand.  We need to use assessment more thoughtfully It is too easy to get 'stuck' in the routine of teaching a lesson, assigning homework, but not taking the time to get feedback from students, on their understanding, or have students think about their own learning.  Here is a free and easy way to assess your student's understanding.

When and how to use them

One practice that I really believe in, and try to use consistently is formative assessment.  These may often be seen in the form of 'exit tickets,' but can also be integrated into the lesson as part of a transition, or closure to a topic.  It is really important to have students reflect on their own learning, and to get a 'pulse' of the class frequently, and long before a unit test. By then it is really too late.

In many cases administrators are looking for closure and student reflection when they observe your class.  Exit tickets or formative assessment are a great way to do that.

Download your freebie

Below is a four pack freebie of four exit tickets that I frequently use in my classroom.  They are downloadable as a pdf file, and print four to a page.  They are set to print four to a page.   Here is 
the link
. Enjoy!

These can be used to assess and determine if re-teaching is necessary for a small group, or for the larger group.  They can also be a critical time for students to reflect on their own learning, and to think about what they understand or don't understand.

Related resources

These are a sample of a larger pack of 50 (!) Exit tickets. The four in the sampler are general use (any subject) and could be widely used.

The complete pack of 50 Exit Tickets include these, and other general exit tickets, but also have an emphasis on science, so they include many general prompts (40 of the 50), but some prompts that are specific to science classes.

Another free resource!! 

For a free guide to quick and easy assessment, as well as a set of free introductory science task cards/bell ringers, click here.

I hope this really helps you and your students know what they understand. 

Innovative New Resource: Observation, Hypothesis and Inference

Early on in the year in almost any science class, at various grade levels, students will learn, or reinforce, the difference between observations, inferences, and hypotheses.  These are critical science skills that students will use across other subjects, and throughout the year. Of course, these skills are ultimately leading them toward making inferences from data, setting up and successfully running experiments, and even making inferences in other areas of their lives.  When students make observations about the world around them, read a news article and infer from it, or make an inference about the interactions that they have with people around them, they are using these skills.  However, this is an area where many students need reinforcement and practice.

I created this set for practicing observation and inferences.

This set has two components, and can be used many different ways.

1) There are 10 pictures that are good for making both observations and inferences.  You can use these pictures for one or other other, or use them to have students practice doing both.  Here is a good example.

Students can observe a hyena, or a zebra head, grass, etc.  They can infer that the hyena killed the zebra, is eating it, is hunting, etc.  They may infer other information as well, such as where this photo was taken.

The second part of this pack is a set of cards.  There are 16 cards each with examples of observations, inferences, and hypotheses.  Students can use them in the following ways (and probably others that I haven't thought of yet): 

- card sort and separate observation, inference, and hypothesis

- get one card and identify which it is.

- match up/sequence -- for example, I observe that the person is very tall, I infer that he plays basketball, and I hypothesize that people who are tall play basketball better.

These cards and pictures can be used in a variety of ways, and with a wide range of student abilities to reinforce these critical science skills. 

I hope you enjoy, and please let me know any feedback that you have! 

How Can You Get Free Resources for Your Classroom?!

I just found out about a new free resource that I'm very excited about, for personal reasons as well as professional.  I can't wait to share it with you.

If you live in NY State, as a taxpayer, apparently you are entitled to a New York (City) Public Library card.  You ask....but I don't live near NYC, so what good does that do for me?!

Well, as we all know, libraries also have many electronic resources, and this gives you full access to all their electronic resources.    Here is a link to their New York Public Library Guide, showing an up to date guide to the NYPL.  This is a fantastic resource! 

In order to get a NYC library card, you have to fill out a form online.  The library card gets mailed to you.  Then you take a scan of your driver's license (or other forms of ID), and, email or fax it, along with the library card.  This validates your library card.  It is free and good for 3 years. 

     
Even if you don't live in NY, maybe there is something similar in your area.  It's worth checking out!

Some of the resources included are shown below, tumblebooks, digital images, ebooks, audiobooks, etc.